The air thinned as the world held its breath.
The sky, once smoldering with a crimson hue, now shimmered with unnatural silence—like the pause before a storm. Amina's gaze lingered on the horizon where the cloaked figure vanished, her heart uneasy. Every instinct screamed danger, yet she couldn't explain why.
Valec stepped forward, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "Did you see it too?"
She nodded. "The one with the blade. He wasn't just watching… he was waiting."
Ashar tilted his head. "Waiting for what?"
Before anyone could answer, the ground quaked—this time with more intensity. Not the wrath of fire, but something older, colder. From beneath the shattered mountain, a chilling wind surged upward. Snowflakes, blue as sapphire, drifted around them—melting before they even touched the scorched ground.
Kai stared, stunned. "Snow? In the heart of the Flame Realm?"
"No," Lumeah whispered. "That's not snow. That's frost-fire."
Suddenly, the child—The Flame Between—staggered, clutching her chest. Her golden eyes dimmed, flickering like a candle in a storm.
"They've found it…" she gasped.
"Found what?" Amina asked.
"The Shard of Silence."
Everyone froze.
Kai's voice dropped to a whisper. "But that's just a myth. A weapon said to sever flame from its source. To kill immortality."
The child's voice shook. "And it's no longer hidden."
Without warning, a jagged pulse of power erupted from the north—an icy beacon that cracked through the sky like a cry of vengeance. From its direction, mist rolled in—heavy, unnatural, swallowing color and sound.
Within it marched the wraith-kings.
Cloaked in death and silence, their eyes glowed with purpose. But it wasn't the past they sought to reclaim.
It was the end of flame itself.
Valec stepped in front of the group, summoning fire to his hands, but the moment his flames rose, they sputtered and hissed—fighting to stay lit.
Amina tried next. Her fire flared… then extinguished.
The child dropped to her knees.
"They're using the Shard," she murmured. "It feeds on our essence. And only one being can wield it…"
The wind howled. From the mist, a silhouette emerged.
The cloaked stranger removed their hood—revealing a face that bore no age, yet eyes that held every sorrow the world had ever known.
Their voice was both male and female. Echo and ice.
"I am Nytheris. The First Flamebreaker."
They lifted the blade of frozen flame.
"And I have come to end the Age of Fire."